[Sunlight] A prayer from Rumi

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O God, make our stony hearts soft as wax;
make our wailing sweet and the object of Your mercy.

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Ay Khodâ sangin del-e mâ mum kon
nâleh-ye mâ-râ khvosh o marhum kon

-- Mathnawi II: 1992
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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[Sunlight] A prayer from Rumi

[Sunlight] The Shining Hero

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The Shining Hero

Every prisoner, I freed.
Every lover's soul, I made happy.
The mouth of the dragon -- I tore it open.
The path of love -- I made it smooth.

Out of water I weaved the world.
Then I filled it with the power of life.
Out of water I brought forth living images
that cannot be carved from ivory or box wood.

Water bursts forth, surging
with the ecstasy of creation --
That is its nature,
That is its addiction.

I pulled Joseph out of a well,
And summoned the whole world
to remember his name.

I am the King
who enjoys the sight of every Queen.
I am the shining hero
who cut through a mountain of stone
for the sake of love.

I have caused great gardens to bloom;
I have built great empires.
The universe is my witness -
I am a King who gives away land
and rules with perfect justice.

I am merely a guest, born in this world
to know the secrets
that lie beyond it.

What masters I have checkmated!
What novices I have turned to masters!

Many lions have roared at me,
Yet like a fox,
I tamed them and made them helpless.

Enough with your doubts!
Enough with your sorrows!
Let them all go,
and I will show you the way.

Everyone swept up by the storm of misery
Will be brought to solid ground -
all they must do is call out to me.
I'll bring them from the center of the whirlwind
Just as I brought this whole creation
out of Emptiness . . .

Now my master has bade me to keep silent -
He has struck me with his sword
and turned my tongue to steel.
Now all I can do is cut.

-- Ode 1502
Poetic translation by Jonathan Star
"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

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[Sunlight] The Shining Hero

[Sunlight] All the precious words -- Quatrain 1112

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all the precious words
you and I have exchanged
have found their way
into the heart of the universe
one day they'll pour on us
like whispering rain
helping us arise
from our roots again

-- Quatrain 1112
Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001

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[Sunlight] All the precious words -- Quatrain 1112

[Sunlight] With what work are you occupied?

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With what work are you occupied,
and for what purpose are you purchased?
What sort of bird are you,
and with what digestive are you eaten?
Pass up this shop of hagglers
and seek the shop of Abundance where God is the purchaser.*
There Compassion has bought
the shabby goods no one else would look at.
With that Purchaser no base coin is rejected,
for making a profit is not the point.

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Dar cheh kâri to va bahr-e chet kharand
to cheh morghi va torâ bâ cheh khvorand
Zin dokkân bâ makkâsân bartar â
tâ dokkân-e Fazl k-Allâha-shtarâ*
Kâleh-'i keh hich khalaqesh na-negarid
az khalâqet ân Karim ân-râ kharid
Hich qalbi pish-e U mardud nist
zânkeh qasdesh az kharidan sud nist

-- Mathnawi VI:1264-1267
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

*al-Tawbah, 111

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[Sunlight] With what work are you occupied?

[Sunlight] Thou art wine and I am water -- Ghazal 1695

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Before such spirit-bestowing Beauty, how should
I not die? How should I not go mad and seize hold of Thy
chainlike tresses?
When I drink Thy wine, how should I not be
obliterated? Thou art wine and I am water, Thou art honey
and I am milk.
Open Thy mouth, that infinite candy -- if Thou
acceptest not my excuses, well, I accept Thy blandishments!
Dost Thou know why I laugh? Because of my
own high aspiration -- in the city of Thy Love, I am the prince
of lovers!
I and eternal Love were born into the world
from a single womb -- though I appear as a new lover, by God I
am exceedingly ancient!
If you open your own eye, you will be fitting
only for yourself. But if you find this vision, you will know
that I am peerless.
Like Men, I fire up the stove of all those who
are cold; and within the stove of warm spirits, my dough is
cooked to the greatest perfection!
In my gentleness, I am like milk -- I never
become caught in the throat. Make no mistakes, though I be
salty like cheese!
In my love for Shams of Tabriz, I am a sultan
wearing a crown -- but when he comes to the throne, I am his
vizier.

-- Ghazal 1695, from Rumi's "Diwan-e Shams"
Translation by Professor William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

*Sunlight note: A vizier is a high executive officer of various Muslim countries and especially of the Ottoman Empire.

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[Sunlight] Thou art wine and I am water -- Ghazal 1695